Would gun control work in the U.S.?

There are lots of studies that have been done looking at the effectiveness of gun control when it was implemented in the past. I will look over some of these below.

The first type I will discuss looked at what happens to death rates after gun control laws are passed. One such study design looks at trends in gun deaths before and after such laws are passed, as happened in Victoria, Australia from 1979 to 2000. During this time, two mass shootings occurred there, in 1988 and 1996, both of which led to gun control laws being passed. A 2004 study found that "Dramatic reductions in overall firearm related deaths and particularly suicides by firearms" occurred after these laws were passed. Another similar study found that after the gun control law Bill C-51 was enacted in Canada in 1977, gun suicide rates fell significantly. Similar results were found in yet another study of New Zealand's 1992 gun control law on gun suicides in that country. The study concluded, "Following the introduction of legislation restricting ownership and access to firearms, firearm-related suicides significantly decreased, particularly among youth." 

Some gun-rights advocates argue that people who want to kill themselves "often find a way to do so — guns or no guns." The implication is that gun control won't work because suicidal people will just switch to another means if they can't find a gun. However, a 2006 study of Australia's gun control laws found "No evidence of [a] substitution effect for suicides or homicides," and a 2003 study in the U.S. looking only at suicide, and a 1998 review, reached similar conclusions. A 2005 review also said that "the risk of substitution or displacement towards other methods seems small." 

Other studies have looked at the correlation between gun availability and homicide/suicide rates. Without citing any studies, the Cato Institute claims that "the facts show that there is simply no correlation between gun control laws and murder or suicide rates across a wide spectrum of nations and cultures." So does the evidence support this claim? A 2000 study found that "Across developed countries, where guns are more available, there are more homicides." Another study from 2002 found that "A disproportionately high number of 5–14 year olds died from suicide, homicide, and unintentional firearm deaths in states and regions where guns were more prevalent." There is also a more recent study which looked at 4 handgun laws (waiting periods, universal background checks, gun locks, and open carrying regulations) in the United States. This study found that "Each law was associated with significantly lower firearm suicide rates and the proportion of suicides resulting from firearms. In addition, each law, except for that which required a waiting period, was associated with a lower overall suicide rate."

I have gotten tired of writing this, because there are so many studies available on this subject, so I'll end it with a systematic review which concluded that "Access to firearms is associated with risk for completed suicide and being the victim of homicide." So much for guns making us safer. 

This post was originally going to be much longer, and address more arguments about both why (according to gun rights activists) gun control wouldn't work and whether it is constitutional. But then I got tired of doing research on this, and later of doing research on gun control's effectiveness, so I cut it short.
























Sources:


http://www.businessinsider.com/why-guns-are-a-divisive-issue-in-america-2015-7
http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/did-the-sandy-hook-shooting-prove-the-need-for-more-gun-control
http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-high-capacity-ammunition-magazines-be-banned
http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/10/5/280.short
http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pr0.1993.72.3.787
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/j.1440-1614.2006.01782.x
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/423192/gun-control-suicide-rates-ezra-klein
http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/12/6/365.short
http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970203764804577059841672541590
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457505000400
http://journals.lww.com/jtrauma/Abstract/2000/12000/Firearm_Availability_and_Homicide_Rates_across_26.1.aspx

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/04/23/battleground-america

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/gun-control-myths-realities
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26270305